Born and raised in Arequipa, Peru, Cecilia Mansilla moved to the San Francisco area when she was 15 years old and learned English when she was 16 years old. She secured college scholarships to all the schools where she applied and ultimately received her Bachelor's Degree in international relations with a double minor in Japanese and Spanish literature from the University of California, Davis.

Mansilla currently works as a technology risk consultant for a professional services firm in San Francisco. She has previously worked as a management consultant.

Mansilla's hobbies include black and white photography, dancing and working out regularly. Her heroes are her parents for having sacrificed a comfortable life in Peru to allow their children greater opportunities in the U.S. She hopes to become involved in charities for real life survivors and would like to mentor young girls on pursuing higher education and career goals.

Mansilla currently resides in Oakland, California. Her birth date is January 13, 1977

Cecilia Mansilla's Early Show Interview Transcript (Transcript by James Barber for SurvivorFever.net - 9.29.06)

RENE : The era of racial segregation is over on Survivor: Cook Islands. On Thursday's episodes they mixed up the players as the four tribes were reduced to two. But Cecilia could not overcome the deal-making and backstabbing of her new tribemates.

(clips)

RENE : Cecilia Mansilla, good morning.

CECE : Good morning.

RENE : Cecilia, I'm surprised to see you here this morning. I thought I'd be talking to Becky.

CECE : I know, that's what the plan was. We started the day, it was 5 and 3, and we had a strategy and we had a story, and people flipped. That's what happens. You have to stay to with the program. People stay with the script.

RENE (laughs): Yeah, you gotta stay with the script, of course there isn't one. Cao Boi and Jessica, I thought you had them in your back pocket.

CECE : I thought we had. Ozzy and I, we sort of had an alliance of four with the other tribe, Cao Boi was going for Becky, Becky's a princess, let's get Becky out, I spent a lot of time with Flica letting her know I liked her as a person. I think they got cornered. I think Jonathan did a really, really good job of cornering Flica into a corner.

RENE : Yeah, he was working hard, he was working overtime.

CECE : Yeah, he wanted it more than me I guess, so hey.

RENE : Yeah, exactly. How did you feel about the tribes being broken up over ethnic and racial lines?

CECE : It was such a nonissue for me.

RENE : Really?

CECE : At first I didn't even notice. Like I saw five people around the area and I was like there's five of everything, great, it's just like Oakland, it's just like home. No racial majority, really. It seemed natural. Unless you're adopted or you grew up with a different family, you most likely grew up with people who look like you. I started this game with people who looked like me and shared similar values; it made sense.

RENE : I thought it was interesting, because when the tribes did merge, everybody was like, "Oh, look, it's like America." It was almost a relief, it seemed like, when the tribes merged and there was no breakdown along racial lines.

CECE : Yeah, some people felt uncomfortable when it was segregated, but I really didn't. I loved, loved, loved my original tribe, and I didn't get enough time to get to know the extended tribe.

RENE : Well, there were some people you got to know fairly well, and that's part of our Survivor secret scene. Let's take a look.

[ (shots of JP and CECILIA with his arm around her, talking, etc.)

CECE (solo): Whatever's going on with JP and I is totally innocent. And I'm cute, so why not?

(JP kisses Cecilia's hand after she says it got cut up)

JP (solo): Yeah, I think Cecilia and I are flirting a little bit. We're getting a little snuggly at night. All because it's body heat. She's got a little Latina flair to her. Can't deny people some happiness.

(shot of Cecilia and JP cuddling in nightvision)]

RENE : OK, let's backtrack a little bit. Anything that's going on between JP and I is innocent.

CECE : So innocent. Did you see all that muscle goodness he has on him? It's all that good stuff on him. How can you not cuddle up to him on those cold, cold nights when the rats are running all over your head?

RENE : I did, I did see the muscle goodness now that you point it out. So what's next for you? What are you gonna do? You live in Oakland, and you're a technology risk assessor.

CECE : I'm finding out what makes me happy. Being out on this show, I realized it's not about the money, and the cars, and all the material stuff, or anything, it's really about the life you have and that provides you with amazing experiences, and the people that you have that take care of you and you take care of. So I'm looking for that.

RENE : That's great. That and JP, and I think you'll be set. (They laugh.) Cecilia Mansilla, take care.

“I Didn’t Do a Good Job of Selling”: An Interview with Survivor: Cook Island’s Cecilia by David Bloomberg -- 09/29/2006

Cecilia was voted out just shortly after the tribal shuffle. How does she think that affected her chances? Did she know she was going? What did she do to save herself that we didn’t see? And what does she look back and say she could have done differently? Cecilia tells us everything right here in this interview!

Cecilia answered a few questions on The Early Show, but then it was time to really find out what was going on. She spoke to RealityNewsOnline about how things went down and what we didn’t see. Read on to find out more.

RealityNewsOnline: What did you first think when you found out the tribes were divided by race?

Cecilia: It was a non-issue for me. It made sense, unless you are adopted, you most likely grew up with people who looked like you. I was a bit concerned that it would show stereotypes, but in the end it showed that people are people, regardless of color and race.

RNO: What do you think of all the hoopla that’s been going on before the first episode even aired?

Cecilia: It was awesome because I knew how it played out. So to see people get their panties in a bunch was fun. I think CBS did an awesome job of casting really diverse people. It wasn’t going to be a bad thing. I was just like, “You wait and watch. Get your panties out of a bunch!”

RNO: What was your strategy coming into the game?

Cecilia: Really, I didn’t have anything set. I just wanted to lay low, have fun, be nice, not fight, and work as hard as hell and let people get to know me and like me. That worked fine with my original tribe because we had time to get to know each other. When we merged, it was so quick, so we didn’t have time to get to know each other. That sucked.

RNO: What did you do, either physically or mentally, to prepare yourself for Survivor?

Cecilia: I ate. I put on weight before I went out there. [I figured] this is going to be the one time I get to eat all the goodies I want. I went swimming in a lake. I looked at all the internet news and stuff on Survivor to see what worked. Thanks to all the people who post stuff online, because they helped me… sort of.

RNO: Why did you decide to vote out Billy last week instead of Ozzy?

Cecilia: I was always on the Billy bandwagon and wanted to throw the challenge, he was sucking the life out of us. My vote was set, there was never any question in my mind. Really it was a combination of things. Billy just couldn’t be trusted. It started off with him trying to make an alliance of the girls against the guys and guys against the girls and trying to break the tribe up. Add to that the fact he didn’t do any work and waited for us to feed him. It was his attitude, he couldn’t really be trusted. Have you ever been at a party where there’s a party pooper who is destroying it for you? That was him.

RNO: What did you think when Billy whipped out the Candice love story at Tribal Council?

Cecilia: Oh. My. God. Was not the funniest thing you’ve ever heard in your life? I tried to be polite and not laugh. He had told me earlier and I was like that’s weird, whatever. But I wasn’t going to bring it up and embarrass him. That’s why the first thing I did when we came back [from the tribe shuffle] was ask Candice. At that time, I hadn’t seen the exchange, so I was like maybe it happened. Anything could happen. After seeing it on TV and talking to Candice, I was like, oh Billy come on now.

RNO: On The Early Show, you mentioned that you had a plan and people quit, but “you have to stay with the program.” Besides the conversation we saw with you, Ozzy, Jessica, and Sundra, what other moves did you make to ensure your alliance was solid and people were indeed staying with the program?

Cecilia: Ozzy and I were definitely on the same page. I went out to Sundra and talked to her about it. I wasn’t the pushy used car salesman that Jonathan was, but I should have been. I tried to reach people on a personal level. Sundra was like, I can trust you guys, so it was three and we needed two more. I spent all afternoon with Flica because she had been very against the plotting and voting people off.

RNO: What show did she think she signed up for?!

Cecilia: She probably thought she was going camping. (laughing) But I spent a lot of time getting to know her in the hope that we could be friends. I didn’t do a good job of selling her the strategy aspect of the game. That was the program. Cao Boi was the first one who said we need to get the princess out of there. I should have been more a part of it instead of letting it happen. I saw it happening and knew they were going after me. But I started getting sick and decided I was ready to go instead of fighting for it. But I left my socks and they’re probably going to be using them.

RNO: Did you expect alliances to form so quickly on the shuffled tribe?

Cecilia: I did, and that Becky and Yul alliance was obvious like me and Ozzy was pretty obvious. I had a gut feeling that Jonathan was in on that. I knew it was the three of them. I figured Candice was a part of it. It was so quick – we really had a day, and half of that day we spent in the tent because it was raining. There wasn’t a lot of time to talk strategy. When they voted for me it was not for any particular reason.

RNO: Why do you think you were viewed by some as the weakest link?

Cecilia: All I can think of, and I certainly wasn’t – I was definitely a strong contender, especially among the females. This is where the Billy thing came back to bite me. Maybe they saw how I wasn’t trying in the previous challenge. Either that or the fact that I was puking my guts out on the boat like everybody else. But there was no way they could have made any assessment.

RNO: You said you were sick, could they tell that?

Cecilia: I don’t know, I should have gotten a Cao Boi red dot, maybe that would have helped. I was laying on the raft in the sun, shivering. Maybe they could see that.

RNO: Did you realize that Jessica had spilled the beans about the vote to Jonathan?

Cecilia: I didn’t, but I had spilled the beans to Jonathan myself. He came up to me, used car salesman that he is, and asked what’s going on. I told him we all decided on Becky, Becky’s gone. So he already knew, even though they showed Flica telling him. Why’d I do that? I dunno, I just wasn’t thinking.

RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Cecilia: I had the most amazing experience. The whole thing from before the show to sitting here talking to you. It was amazing and I would do it again. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.